The Daily Routines of Highly Successful People

The Daily Routines of Highly Successful People ‘Routine’ The word can bring to mind negative connotations of a forced environment or ‘stuck in a rut’ behaviour. However that doesn’t have to be the case… Having a set routine can be highly beneficial to you and your career, allowing you a regular schedule which keeps you happy, healthy and focused on the work at hand. Lots of successful individuals have very specific routines that they swear by. We’re going to look at tips from some of these individuals and see how we can apply them to our own everyday working routines. Have a Plan of Action: Jack Dorsey (Twitter founder) plans out each day of his weekly routine in advance. Here is an example of one of his weekly plans: Monday: Management and running the company Tuesday: Product Wednesday: Marketing and communications, growth Thursday: Developers and partnerships Friday: Company culture and recruiting Having a clear plan for the week ahead allows you to know exactly what you are doing each day, to focus on specific tasks and set clear goals for yourself. Prepare For the Day Ahead: Eva Chen (Editor of Lucky Magazine) wakes up every day by first checking her twitter and favourite websites to see what has been going on. Seeing what has been happening whilst you were asleep can always be useful for the day ahead as you never know how it could fit into your work. Steve Jobs started every morning by asking himself If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today? Though he may not have been the easiest person to work with by all accounts, he was a highly driven and motivated individual who got things done and was hugely successful. Asking yourself a question such as this can allow you to think about whether your routine is working for you and if you are achieving everything you wish to from your job. You don’t ever have to settle for ‘good enough’, strive to be the best you can be, doing work that really matters to you. Reenergise with Breaks: Evan Williams (Twitter, Medium, Blogger) tries to go to the gym in late morning or late afternoon to take a break from work. This allows him to reenergise for the work ahead. According to the Mayo Clinic ‘physical activity stimulates various brain chemicals that may leave you feeling happier and more relaxed.’ A happier and relaxed body is sure to be helpful during a stressful day right? If exercising isn’t really your thing, then reading a book or going for a walk is sure to allow your mind a rest from work related activities, which means you are ready to resume at full pace on your return. What Have You Accomplished? Benjamin Franklin used to end every day by asking ‘What good did I do today?’  Spend some time thinking about what you have accomplished during the day. This could be something you have done that you are pleased with or perhaps a situation that you could have handled better. This allows you some time to think your day through  and work through problems that may not have even realised were an issue at the time. As it is always important to congratulate yourself for things you have achieved or done well that day, as it gives you a well-earned sense of accomplishment and ends the day on a positive note. Plan for Tomorrow: Spend a bit of time at the end of your day planning for the following day. Kenneth Chenault (CEO of American Express) always ends each day by writing down three things he wants to achieve the next day. This allows you to set a clear target of what you want to complete when you start the following and avoids any stress or timewasting trying to figure out what you are going to do that day. The Evening is For You: The evening is the time to relax with your family, exercise or work on personal projects. If you want to feel refreshed and motivated for the following day of work it is important to have some down time to yourself away from the hustle and bustle of work. Michael Woodward Ph. D (organisational psychologist and author) says “The last thing you need is to be lying in bed thinking about an email you just read from that overzealous boss who spends all their waking hours coming up with random requests driven by little more than a momentary impulse.” You need to enjoy your time away from work so that you can enjoy your time at work. The evening is an important time to release that stress from the day, forget about the issues and problems, and prepare yourself for the coming day. We all have our own little idiosyncrasies and day to day patterns which make us who we are; such is the beauty of life. However not all of them are healthy behaviours and sometimes can actually be quite damaging. By looking at these successful individuals and the best tips they have to offer we can all hopefully learn a thing or two, making our working life a healthier and happier experience. RELATED: 5 Weird Habits of Successful People Author:  Mark Porter, Marketing Manager at Signatrol.

A Guide to Video Interviews with Local Candidates

A Guide to Video Interviews with Local Candidates The video interview: it’s not just for international candidates. There’s a misconception that video interviews are only for connecting with candidates far, far away. While video interviewing can be a good tool for bridging large distances, it’s also an effective method to connect with candidates closer to home. The video interview can help your company streamline the recruiting process, whether you’re a staffing company with a high volume of candidates or your company is just looking to fill one job vacancy. Here are some ways video interviews might be the key to shortening your process, even if your top candidates are local talent: 1) Whittle down the candidate pool: It doesn’t matter if you’re a big staffing company or a small scale startup, today’s economy has widened the candidate pool for every open position. On average, top employers are receiving anywhere from 85 to 211 graduates vying for new positions. With this kind of volume, it’s become essential to find ways to streamline the traditional recruiting process so you’re not wasting hours evaluating the wrong people. A one-way video interview can be the answer for quickly yet efficiently weeding through a large volume of candidates. In a one-way video interview, candidates answer an employer’s written questions on video. These videos can then be watched at any time by employers, meaning you no longer have to spend 30 minutes or more on the phone with the wrong person. You get a personal feel for the candidate, yet you’re able to quickly move on if someone is all wrong for the position or company. RELATED:  How To Maximize  Video Interviews  [Useful Tips] 2) The busy passive candidate: Passive candidates are a myth: currently, 77 percent of employed workers are either actively looking for new opportunities or open to new career prospects. While the traditional passive candidate may be an urban legend, there is some truth to the difficulties of connecting with currently employed talent. Passive candidates might not be truly passive, but they certainly are very busy. It can be impossible to schedule an interview around the packed calendar of a really great passive candidate. They might be interested in hearing what you have to say about an open position or the company in general, but it’s likely they don’t have the time. With video interviews, you can work an interview around even the busiest schedules. For instance, passive candidates can answer your questions in a one-way video interview that they record right from their favorite mobile device. They can also connect with you in person in a live video interview whenever there’s a break in their schedule. This removes the hassles of the traditional hiring process, like a candidate getting lost on the way to a new office or finding themselves stuck in traffic. With a live video interview, you can connect personally in real-time, no road rage required. RELATED:  How To Recruit  Passive Candidates  Online 3) Increased collaboration: Your candidate doesn’t need to be located around the world for video interviews to assist with hiring collaboration. For staffing companies, video interviews help you share great candidates with clients, since both one-way and live video interviews are always recorded. For companies hiring for internal positions, it’s great to be able to share talented candidates with the team or department looking for a new superstar hire. Using video interviewing for local talent means easing collaboration with the whole team, making it easier for you to hire the most qualified and best fitting candidate. Video interviewing is certainly effective for connecting with candidates who can’t make it into the office due to distance. But that’s not where the application of video interviewing ends. As a recruiting tool, video interviewing can help you streamline the process, connect with passive candidates, and better collaborate with everyone on your team. This way you can be sure to find the best people faster and easier. What are some ways you use video interviews to connect with local talent? Share in the comments! Author: Josh Tolan is the CEO of Spark Hire, a video powered hiring solution that allows staffing professionals to collaborate with their clients around video interviews.

What To Do If Your Boss Is A Jerk

What To Do If Your Boss Is A Jerk My boss is a jerk! In the professional world, there is a belief that women are too emotional and react emotionally in very practical situations. This is a toxic belief and during my corporate career I have found it has a big negative impact on many girls. Emotions are nothing more than signals about whether what is happening is good or bad for you. By calling women emotional in an offensive context, you create a sense of guilt, which makes them disregard their intuition that a certain experience is wrong. As a result, layer after layer of negative feelings are being kept inside, eventually leading to low productivity, impulsive decisions and burn-out. Significantly emotional experiences could be created in a girl’s work environment when her boss tends to act like an a**hole. In this case, women should definitely not ignore their feelings that something wrong is happening and should face the issue head on. Still, just to confirm we are not in fact overreacting, before we go on to describe how to handle this, let us first determine when our boss falls into this category. A Jerk Boss Is A Boss Who: …Is way too emotional himself, but tries to make the girls feel bad about it. He yells and acts childish. You never know how a conversation with him will unfold. …Talks employees down to other employees. You can be sure he talks you down too. …Fails to provide on his promises, but he never forgets your mistakes. …Uses offensive words. Nothing can excuse this behavior in a work environment. Bosses who do all or some of the above are extreme in the opposite way too â€" they can be very nice, give you bonuses and presents, pat you on the back and give you important projects you were interested in. This actually proves they are a**holes, because their behavior lacks any logic. So you get stressed out never knowing what mood they will be in and no good work can be completed under that amount of stress. The obvious solution is to quit, but let’s say you really need this job and/or like the essence of it. What are your options? There are three main contexts in which you communicate with your manager. In each of those, there is a specific  behavior, which guarantees you calmer business days. Day-to-Day Work Even if the boss we are talking about is not your direct manager, you may still have contacts with him in your day-to-day work and these contacts terrify you. The truth is a jerk boss is used to causing terror, so he expects you to avoid him. As a manager, he may even use this method to make you do your job without making you do your job â€" if he is around and you are bothered by his presence, you will immediately find something to do and/or fix any errors, so you stay unnoticed. As with most fears, in order to concur it, you need to face it. Accept and when appropriate, seek you bosses guidance. Share your troubles with him. Tell him honestly there has been a mistake and what are you doing to fix it. First of all, you will surprise him and gain his respect for being open and professional, focused on the interests of the company. Second, when you admit a problem and propose a solution, you distract your boss from “what a tragedy just happened” and help him focus his attention on the way out of it. During a Conflict As we already mentioned above, during a conflict your boss may get emotional, may yell or even start calling you names. If you follow your feelings, you may want to slap him or leave the room, but if you want to be the bigger professional, then be the antidote to his behavior. Realize that his reaction is most probably not about you at all â€" it’s about him. Often managers, who don’t get their way, see themselves as a failure and this triggers the emotions. The right thing to do here is to keep your cool and say something like “With all due respect, I don’t think your behavior is helping us right now.” Then proceed with listing options for solving the conflict. To A Really Good Offer You may think you know what you should do in this case â€" take it, and I am not saying you shouldn’t. But keep your eyes open for traps. Receiving an almost too-good-to-be-true offer from your boss is just an expression of his opposite extreme, and you are ought to take advantage of it after the hell you’ve been trough. Before you do though, consider the following: Is it clear what your responsibilities are? â€" Mean bosses will often propose something amazing in a moment of weakness, just to compensate for being mean. So they come up with a project they know you will like and they know they can use, but are not sure how exactly they can use it yet. Make sure to get this out in the open in the beginning, or it will be your fault later on for not reading their mind. How engaging is it? â€" I have been offered partnerships in a business that I am just not interested in pursuing. It could have brought in good money, but it would have taken all my time and attention for years to come and I was not willing to spend that time there. What’s in it for him? â€" If you are having difficulties reaching clarity on your responsibilities, let this be your guiding star. He may not have thought this trough, but you should know at all times what’s in it for your boss. If you know that and work in the direction of getting him that, you will continue to get good offers. These simple steps can make you your manager’s favorite. Not that this is a title you need to be pursuing, but it would make your life so much easier â€" like a blizzard turned into a breeze.